Nebraska's linebackers have been cursed the last two seasons by the injury bug.

Every single scholarship linebacker on the Husker roster has gone through some sort of major injury the last two seasons.

Middle linebacker Corey McKeon has been slowed by both a knee and ankle injury this season. McKeon's back-up in the pre-season, sophomore Phillip Dillard tore his ACL in the Louisiana Tech game.

At weak side linebacker, junior Steve Octavien has been slowed since the USC game with a hamstring injury and an ankle injury. Last season Octavien was out for the entire season with a broken leg. NU's other WILL linebacker, junior Bo Ruud has been healthy this season, but he suffered a broken arm during bowl preparations last December.

As SAM linebacker, starter Stewart Bradley suffered a season ending knee injury last year and junior Lance Brandenburgh is currently slowed for the next six weeks with a broken bone in his wrist. Last season, Brandenburgh was also limited due to a hamstring injury. Redshirt freshman Nick Covey, another linebacker who potentially could be in the mix right now has also been out of commission for most of his career with various injuries as well.

In last week's Oklahoma State game, all of the injuries and set backs at linebacker finally caught up with Nebraska. The Huskers did not have the speed to run sideline to sideline with OSU's explosive back field and McKeon said as Nebraska gets ready for Missouri this week it's a legitimate concern.

"I can't sit here and say that I'm not concerned about it, because it is a factor in the way we are playing," McKeon said.